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I would think that 15K is more than reasonable considering a "run of the mill" rebuilt R2 just sold for $6200. Twice the money for 10 times the engine sounds like a heck of a deal to me. Imagine if you were to find an original R3 car that needed an engine.... holy moly. I think that would increase the value of that car by more than 6 or 7 thousand dollars, wouldn't it??

In terms of rarity, yes, an R3 is unobtanium. There were more than ten times as many R2s made as R3s. In terms of horsepower, it's only 16% more than an R2.

jack vines

Yeah, My comment was intended more for the status and rarity, than for the horsepower. Besides... my uncle said his 51 V8 Commander would do better than 130 in 2nd gear overdrive... so that's way better "bang for the buck" than any ole' R3 Avanti engine anyway, right? <G>

The crate R-3 I sold several years ago dyno tested 357 hp with the milder cam. R-3 hp was apparently understated .

Yes, agree completely. A competent tuner can get more than rated short-burst horespower from any of the R-series engines. All three, as delivered by Studebaker were de-tuned and under-rated below their absolute potential . The drag strip times turned by Ted in the R2 Stude Tomato are way, way faster/quicker than the factory 289 horsepower. Until the blower belts begin to slip, he's getting close to the stock R3s. The R1 times by Richard Poe are also far better than any contempory road test ever produced. They've got years of work in getting there and those cars are no longer daily drivers.

As mentioned here in another thread where Hot Rod Magazine fixed some problems with an R2 Lark, Studebaker intentionally set the carbs up rich and limited the ignition advance. The subject's supercharger was also only putting out 3# of boost; typical in a street-driven car. It is rare to find an R2 producing the full 6# boost. This prevented possible damage at the expense of horsepower, fuel economy, daily drivability.

The prototype R3 clocked and advertised at 173 MPH was a California hot rod 299" and was faster than any of the production 304.5" engines. This was common practice back in the day. Chevrolet had DynoDon Nicholson winning SuperStock with the 409". However, customer cars were full two seconds slower as delivered detuned and with two head gaskets stacked to lower compression.

Bottom line, what one engine will produce on the dyno or on the strip is not always representative of what Studebaker was delivering to the customer.

The last R3 I had a hand in building dynoed @ 405 HP.....only change was a higher lift cam. Same compression..... 6-7 lbs of boost. This was with the timing set up @ 36 total and racing fuel.
With 93 octane and 34 total.....we got 379 hp in every day streetable tune. Stock valves, stock ports B-61 numbered engine.